eating

In general, the best diet to calm the migraine storm is simply a healthy diet. There may be certain foods that trigger migraines in some individuals. Eating consistently and healthfully, however, is generally a better approach for helping migraines than trying to figure out what foods to eliminate from your diet. Check out the “Fueling Your Brain” section below to see how well you are doing with eating habits.

Fueling Your Brain.

Determine how well you are fueling your brain by selecting the items that pertain to you. For information about each item, hold your mouse cursor over the

EATING SCORE

MIGRAINE RISK FROM EATING SCORE

See how strong your brain’s Forcefield is:

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Why Should I Care?

Your brain feeds on the nutrients that food supplies. If you cut off the brain’s food supply by skipping breakfast or going a long time between meals, the brain becomes stressed and may start a migraine. Similarly, skipping breakfast or eating inconsistently causes spikes and crashes in blood sugar; these spikes and crashes create migraine storm conditions for your brain. By eating breakfast consistently and making healthy food choices, you also reduce the risk of becoming overweight (which is a risk factor for making headaches start to occur even more often). For all these reasons, healthy eating is another powerful tool in controlling the migraine storm.

What's your excuse?

I don’t have time for breakfast.

Yes you do. Prepare something the night before (e.g., strawberry banana yogurt smoothie or a fruit salad) or choose healthy quick options if you know you’ll be rushed in the morning (e.g., Greek yogurt with granola, bagel with cream cheese and sliced banana).

I’m never hungry.

This can happen sometimes and may be related to medications, mood, stress, and many other factors. However, that doesn’t mean you should never eat! Rather, it means you may need to retrain your body’s hunger system. Try eating healthy, small portions of food every few hours throughout the day to start rebuilding an appetite.

I’m allergic to vegetables.

That’s unlikely – only about 10% of people have oral allergy syndrome, a condition in which you’ll get itching or burning in your mouth when you eat certain fruits or vegetables. You probably mean you don’t like the taste of vegetables. Start by sampling small bites of many different types of vegetables over a couple of weeks – you may find one you like! Or try preparing vegetables in different ways – for example, roast them (they’ll taste sweeter that way), add spinach to a smoothie (you won’t taste it), or try them in baby food (pureed)!

School lunches are disgusting.

This is not a reason to skip eating during the day! Pack your own (healthy!) lunch to bring and healthy snacks to eat before and after lunch. You may need to ask for a doctor’s note if you are not allowed to have snacks or drinks between classes at your school.

I go out to eat all the time.

That doesn’t mean you have to be unhealthy when eating! Most food places have healthier choices on the menu – you may have just never looked at that part of the menu before! Try to choose foods that are fresh and unprocessed to the extent possible (e.g., salads), get grilled or steamed food instead of fried food, and drink water instead of pop.